A Walk in the Park
by dyhanna
Summary: A nine year old boy is moving towards the brink of suicide. Maybe one glimpse of a girl will change that.


Title: A Walk in the Park

AN: This is my first story, so if it's badly written or clichéd, please say it nicely. No flames please. I'm pretty much begging you to go easy on me.

Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter** or anything you'll recognize in this story 'cause if I did, I'd be filthy rich, Harry and Draco's children, _Albus Severus_ and _Scorpius_ wouldn't have such weird names.

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_"Love improves happiness, _

_and abates misery, _

_by doubling our joys, _

_and dividing our grief." _

A rather skinny and sallow boy with long greasy hair that appeared to be the age of nine walked away from a rather dingy house, ignoring the furious yells from his parents' argument. He wore a scowl on his bruised face due to trying and failing to subdue his parents', in their words, creative discussion. A curtain of long greasy hair covered his glaring eyes. His black eyes had shown no warmth, only misery. He stomped angrily, not caring where his feet took him. He looked down towards the pavement and thought of running away from his gruesome life.

'_No, that's just what a coward would do. I am not a coward, nor will I ever be.', _He thought, narrowing his eyes more, if that was possible, at the thought.

He finally looked up and was surprised to see that he had ended up in the town park. He quickly turned his shocked face into a scowl when he noticed that the park was filled with townspeople, all with beaming smiles on their faces. The positive warmth coming from the lush park didn't affect the boy's mood the least bit. In fact, it seemed to have made it worse, especially as he saw two children laughing and playing, unaware of the troubles of life itself.

'_Look at them, all smiling and laughing like there's nothing wrong with the world. It makes me sick!'_ he thought angrily, _'It's like they don't see the fact that there are people suffering—that I'm suffering. No!'_ he tried to convince himself, _'I don't need friends. They only make people weak and vulnerable. Who'd want to be a friend of someone like me, poor, bitter, and pathetic? No one tried to be a friend to me, to try and help me. I don't need their help. I don't need anyone's help. I've waited long enough for someone to help me. I'll just help myself. I don't need them'._ "I don't need any of them…" he muttered bitterly, looking at the scene before him.

The boy certainly stood out from the overly cheerful crowd with his adult-sized coat, a sickeningly grey shirt, oversized trousers, and the fact that he looked like he was about to throw up due to the scene before him. He started dragging his secondhand shoes and glared once again at the pavement, thinking of the events have occurred in his, as he would say, pathetic life.

'_That son of a bitch! How dare he forbid mother and me from u—'_he was pulled out from his thoughts by a rather taunting voice.

"Well, well, look who it is…" a boy with flaming red hair and a body, in the boy's opinion, the size of a whale.

'_Great,'_ the boy thought grumpily _'just what I needed.'_ He spoke up wearily, "Leave me alone, Parker."

"You know what, I don't think I will", Parker said with a nasty smile on his face, "Hey, don't you look lonely."

'_Nice one, genius.'_ the boy thought sarcastically while visibly rolling his eyes at Parker's direction.

"Don't worry", Parker said, his eyes sparkling vindictively, "I'm sure your new bruises would keep you company." He finished, walking towards the greasy-haired boy while cracking his beefy knuckles menacingly. The boy stepped back, his black eyes widening with fright.

Out of the blue, both boys heard a resounding crack. The boy looked up and his eye caught the source of the unexpected sound. An enormous tree branch fell on Parker, knocking him out cold. The boy stood in amazement, surprised of what he had done. A smirk slowly appeared on his face, realizing what he just did. He tilted his head towards the unconscious boy and muttered," Stupid muggle…" He looked around, grateful that they were in a concealed part of the park, and swaggered off.

The smirk on his face grew, thinking of the things he could achieve, the power he can obtain with his abilities. His happiness faltered at the thought of his parents. The sallow boy suddenly felt a pang of hatred towards everything and everyone he had come to know; his father for hating everything magical, his mother for being with a 'worthless' muggle, his own existence for feeling nothing but pain and anguish, and every single person that walked his way for not acknowledging the pain he had been through all his life. He cursed his whole life and wanted nothing more than to end it. His face was scrunched up in pain, wishing for him to be suddenly shot or to be pushed off a cliff.

'_Would they even miss me?'_ he thought of his parents, an image of the argument they had this morning entered his mind. _'No!'_ he thought forcefully, as though trying to convince himself _'I doubt they would even notice. It's not like they care about what happens to me. They obviously made that clear through the years.'_ He was so caught up with the thought of death that he didn't realize a sole tear that fell down on his pale bruised cheek.

He started walking again only this time, more grimly than before. The boy halted to a stop as his almost soulless eyes caught a rather intriguing scene in the middle of the park's rose garden.

Two girls were talking and giggling on the garden, their laughter echoing across the field and their happiness radiating from their young faces. The older of the two had strawberry blond hair tied in a messy ponytail, hollow cheekbones, and an abnormally long neck, but she wasn't the one that caught the boy's attention. His eyes were drawn to the younger girl that looked just about his age. She had fiery red hair, vibrant green almond-shaped eyes, and a smile that, in his opinion, can brighten anyone's day, even his.

It wasn't the girls or the sound of their voices that had first caught his attention, but the roses. The supposed-to-be-closed roses kept on opening and closing every few seconds. The boy, now hidden behind bushes, raised an eyebrow at the roses and turned his attention back to the girls. He noticed that the blond girl had become aware of her surroundings and stood up in shock. He turned towards the red-haired girl and saw no hint of surprise on her petite face, confirming his idea that she was the one making the roses act in such a peculiar way. The blond had gone paler than the boy, which was a tremendous feat, and looked like she was about to faint.

"Petunia, Tuney, look what I can do! Isn't it amazing?" the redhead exclaimed, enthusiasm showing on her face.

"Li—Lily, you did this?" Petunia stuttered, her eyes widening with fear. Lily nodded, beaming.

"Stop it then!" Petunia yelled, furious, "Can't you see it's scaring the hell out of me?"

The boy had an amused smirk on his face. "Probably a muggle or squib…" he muttered as the roses returned to its normal state.

"I—I'm sorry, Petunia…" Lily trembled, scared of her older sister.

"No, no…" Petunia said, finally calming down a little. "I should be sorry. I shouldn't have exploded like that."

"It's alright Tuney," Lily said soothingly, patting her sister's back, "I forgive you. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Well," Petunia said, standing up and pulling her sister up with her, "we better go back home. Mom's waiting for us."

"Yeah," Lily said, smiling at her sister, "it's getting late."

The two siblings were heading towards the boy's hiding place. He made himself more hidden as possible without making any noise. Fortunately for the boy, the girls passed the boy's hiding place without spotting his figure behind the bushes.

"Hey Tuney!" Lily had a mischievous grin on her face.

"Yeah Lil?" Petunia raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Race ya…" Lily sped out of the park with Petunia following.

The greasy-haired boy came out of the bushes and stood alone on the rose garden.

"Lily…" he breathed, still in shock "she's a witch…"

He hated everything and everyone in the world, from the dirt of his shoes to his own parents. He couldn't stand the sight of everything he's familiar with. He wanted to be powerful and destroy everything and everyone that stood his way. He felt a surge of hate for everything and everyone.

Everything except…her.

Lily.

His face suddenly broke out into what probably was the first smile that had appeared on his face for as long as he can remember. As he started walking away from the rose garden, he felt an emotion that he couldn't quite recognize. He felt like he was locked inside an open furnace during a winter day. He had never felt so confused in all his miserable life. He had read about it in books and was explained in a thousand ways, yet he still couldn't fully understand it, that is, until now. He felt an emotion that he was deprived from for so long. He felt something so exciting yet so terrifying.

Love

As the skies turned into a purple hue, Severus Snape realized that he didn't feel like jumping off a cliff today.

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AN: That's my first story. I'd love to hear all your reviews. Please be nice.


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